Falling
by crazy-punk
Summary: Falling is never fun, it makes your stomach dropp, and hurts when you land.But then again there always seems to be someone to help you back up. I guess love is the same way. DSNQ
1. Chapter one

Hey everyone who was crazy enough to read this, me and my friend wrote this to cure the boredom of many ….classes. You may notice the different styles of writing well that's because it was an add on story. Like I would write something and then she would have to write something on and off, back and forth you get the picture. So, the different font shows the thoughts or words of the two different authors. I hope you enjoy it cause making it was defiantly a blast.

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters that are in any of Tamora's books……….unfortunately.

-

Falling

It was a beautiful summer day; the sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the beauty of the day was wasted on a young woman who was sitting next to a pond thinking about how feelings change over the years. (Guess Who) Something was wrong, but she didn't know what it was. Even the squirrel, who was idly chatting with Veralidaine Sarrasri, noticed, but neither could say by name the problem. Daine looked into the pool. Something was coming, not necessarily a bad thing, but something that she wouldn't like. Numair knew it too, he'd been nervous ever since he got a letter from Kaddar in Carthak, and Daine had a feeling Numair wasn't telling her something. (Hint: Who would make Numair nervous with Daine around and is from Carthak…Dun dun dun)

_Hmm_, Daine thought, _I'd better go back to the room and talk to him_. Daine stood up and dusted off her breeches and started walking back to the castle. She ran through the halls, down the corridors, and finally to the room she and Numair Salmalín, famous black robed mage, shared. She quietly opened the door and saw that Numair was nowhere to be seen. But Kitten, the dragon formerly known as Skysong, informed the Wild Mage that Numair was in their bedchambers

The door was closed so Daine crept up to the door and put her ear to it. She heard moaning inside and frowned. She put her hand on the door handle and prepare herself for what was inside the room (he he he). She lost her nerve. She wanted to turn the handle, but couldn't make herself do it. She asked Kit, finally, if anyone was in there with him. Kit, in reply, hid under the chair. Daine was mad and she now had anger to fuel her to open the door. When it was open, Daine gasped and stood in the doorway as Numair looked up at her

Anger welled up in her for what she saw made her want to cut off his head slowly and painfully. There were clothes everywhere and Daine knew the pink dress that was lying at the doorway too well. Numair's robe was lying next to the pink dress, and Daine knew she had to say something. "You… you… AAAHHH!" Kel's sparrow's flew through the window and, at Daine's command, started pecking at and pooping all over Numair's black hair. "My hair, my hair!" he started screaming. Varice, terrified of birds, ran through the halls, with only a sheet covering her, mind you, screaming like a banshee.

Daine glared long and hard at Numair and he turned his head and gulped. "Daine, you know how much my hair means to me… he he." His joke failed miserably, and he was most definitely going to feel her wrath now. All of a sudden animals all over the country went on a rampage. (Poor Numair he he) Numair, being the big fat coward of a mage that he was, used a transportation spell and was relocated to Carthak. Daine was happy that he was gone and decided to write him a letter informing him that she was keeping their room in the palace and that he better stay in Carthak. (A/N: I don't know how she could tell he was in Carthak, but she could.)

Now it was time to find Varice hehehe. Daine ran down the hall when she saw a sheet sticking out of a door. Daine smiled evilly and went up to the door. The door was already open and Daine walked to the doorframe, casually leaning against it. " 'Lo there Miss Varice." The blonde woman spun around and looked at her with terror. "D-Daine, how are you today?" "Oh, I've been better… but to carry on the small talk, I learned something interesting today." "Is that so?" Varice asked with a gulp. She heard a shriek from down the halls and watched as an eagle, a hawk, and a falcon alighted on the young woman's shoulder and arms.

"May I ask you a question, Varice, woman to woman?" Varice barely nodded her head. "You knew Numair and I were together, so, why did you do it?" Her eyes flashed angrily, "So what if he was with you, its obvious that he had a better time with me," Varice said as she slapped Daine. As soon as Varice's hand touched Daine's face, the birds started screeching then flew off Daine's shoulders. Circling overhead, Varice feared they would attack and, too busy watching her winged predators forgot about Daine.

Daine ran up to her and punched her squarely in the face. Varice was shocked at the power and form behind Daine's attack; where she came from, girls were weak and didn't know how to fight, but here was obviously different. Little did she know that Daine often joined the pages, squires, Riders, and the Own in their practicing and could fight quite well

Varice touched her eyes where Daine's punch had landed. Suddenly she reached for Daine, grabbing a handful of the thick, brown curls and pulling with all her might. Daine twisted around, grabbed her thumbs, and twisted them hard. Varice then flailed around, succeeding in scratching Daine once in the eye and several more times on the rest of her face. A child who worked in the stables walked by and saw what was going on in the room turned and yelled, "CAT FIGHT!"

A stampede of feet was heard and soon, a large crowd of pages and squires watched in awe as the two women fought. Varice's sheet started to drop, the boys consequently started gaping even more, and Daine used the opportunity to strike her twice in the face and one hard blow to the stomach, making the blonde double over in pain. A tall man walked in and put his hand on the head of the child who declared what was going on. His green eyes (No, he's not Neal) looked from Varice to Daine to Varice again. Then he came up with a logical answer to what the fight was about based on gossip. He glared at Varice and turned around. "Nothing to see here, move along, move along." All the squires and pages groaned but listened and went back to lunch. The man turned around and smiled mouthing, "Good luck, Daine," and walked out with the child, who happened to be his younger sibling.

Daine smiled for the first time today. Leave it to her young friend Ron, commander of the Thirteenth group in the Own, to cheer her up. Then she turned back to Varice who was pinned, her anger returning. (Phew that was a lot) Daine looked her over. _Wow_, she thought_, I can do some serious damage!_ Her blonde hair was matted with the blood spilling from her nose, her eyes were swelling largely, and her right cheek was an inch farther out than it was before. On closer inspection though, she could see an ample amount of her own blood and skin under Varice's nails. She spun around to look at the mirror and saw the four long scratches down her face, each with a trail of blood to follow it, and saw the corner of her eye bleeding. Turning to look at Varice, she tried not to get too angry.

She socked Varice over and over again and so her face would look more distorted she scratched her. Then she broke down and cried. Daine got up and ran, running into Neal and Ron. She kept running until she got to her old room. Keladry of Mindelan saw her running and went to comfort her. "Daine, I heard about the fight. Sounds like you kicked ass! Why are you sad, then**?" **

"I feel so rejected, am I that ugly?" Daine asked. "Daine, you're being daft. You know Varice can't even compare, right? I thought you were smart!" Daine laughed thought tears were still falling down her face. "I have enough common sense to know that she's prettier than me, though," she said with a sad smile.

Kel's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Are you mad? You're much prettier than her," Kel said, " especially now since you messed up her face." Daine laughed heartily, "I guess I did mess her up pretty bad, huh?"

"That you did. Lots of people have crushes on you. I mean even Ne-" Kel put her hand over her mouth. Daine kept laughing and then stopped abruptly. "Neal? Nealan of Queenscove, your best friend Neal? Me? How did I not notice?" she wondered aloudKel said quickly, "OK, OK yes he does like you. Actually, he's liked you since we were pages, but you didn't hear it from me."

For once, the Wild Mage was speechless. She sat there staring out the window thinking about this knight. How could she not know this? She heard tons of gossip, so how is it possible she hadn't heard? Kel looked at her friend and sighed. She didn't know if what she said had helped or hurt the matter. She only said that so that Daine would take her mind off Numair, but she saw that her plan hadn't worked very well. Kel sighed again and tried to think up another solution. Then it hit her, she smiled evilly. She'd be a matchmaker and put Neal and Daine together. (Wa ha ha :cough: wah ha :cough: Oh, Dang it all)

"Well, I guess it's a good thing," Daine thought aloud. "Huh?" said Kel. "Well, I was starting to worry that only creepy old guys would ever like me. And it's very flattering, Neal has good taste so I guess that's saying something good about me!" Kel chuckled; this might be easier than she thought! "Yeah, that's about the only thing he has good taste in," Kel said while laughing.

Daine shook her friend's hand and pulled her into a hug. "It's about time I was happy again." Kel smiled, "Well, at least I get to see your smile again." "Thanks Kel… I gotta go, though. Need to set fire to all of Numair's stuff," she said with the evilest of all smirks. "This will be fun." Kel chuckled as Daine went out the door, "Yes it will, Daine, yes it will." She ran down the halls again and, in repetition of prior events, ran into Neal again, only this time he was alone.

"Oh, Mithros! I'm so sorry! I need to start watching where I'm going," she said sitting up and trying to get her eyes into focus. Neal shook his hair out of his face. "That's OK. I've become quite accustomed to this position anyway," he said. Daine laughed, then stopped. He was… No, no way was he flirting with her. "I dunno… for knowing animals so well, you'd think I'd be more graceful or something," she said, laughing. Neal laughed at that. "Well, you'd think that since I'm a knight I'd pay more attention."

She laughed again and tried to analyze the situation. Before she could really think about it anymore, she looked up into his green eyes and all thoughts stoppedDaine thought, _Oh man, I'm in big shit now._ "Daine… uh… do you know where Kel went?" She could tell this wasn't what he was going to say, but she was just glad he was talking to her. A commander (:cough, Ron, cough:) snapped his fingers. "Damnit," he said. He was almost positive something would've happened. "Kel went that way, so I guess I'll see you later.," Daine said pointing in the opposite direction. Neal could hear the disappointment in her voice, even though she tried to hide it. "Yeah, I'll see you later," Neal said sadly.

Daine turned and walked away, disappointed that the encounter was so short. _Wow_, she thought, _he has really nice eyes… and arms, too, and…_ "Oh my gods!" she screamed once she had gotten outside. _I shouldn't be thinking these things! And how is it possible that I forgot about Numair so fast. A couple of minutes ago, all I could think about was what I had done wrong to him and his gruesome torture. Now all I want is to be standing next to Neal again, being with him and looking into those eyes… This can't be good! How can I be thinking these thoughts when I never thought about anyone this way… not even Numair!_ Frustrated with her own head, she turned into a bird, a hawk like the one she had summoned earlier, and flew above the trees. The air hitting her wings helped, kind of, but she couldn't stop thinking about him

Meanwhile, Neal walked down the opposite hall that Daine had, thinking about how shallow he must be. _I just broke up with Yuki after her parents said that we couldn't be together and I'm acting as if it's no big deal and flirting with Daine_, Neal thought to himself. _But I did like her before, so I guess it's not that bad. But I'm not supposed to forget Yuki that fast! Maybe her parents put a spell on me… Yeah! Sure, that's it! _Neal went around the corner and kept walking.

Suddenly a knife was held up to his neck. Neal froze; he hadn't even heard this person slip up behind him. His captor whispered in his ear, "And you call yourself a knight." Neal elbowed the man in the stomach and turned around to see the man doubled over. He had reddish-goldish hair, which looked like copper. Neal looked closer and saw that the man wasn't doubled over from pain but from laughing too much. Neal paled, "Ron?" he squeaked. "In the flesh," Ron said while laughing.

"Why the hell did you do that?" yelped Neal, "Trying to test my reflexes or something?" "How'd you guess, I mean, your reflexes are slower than mine when I'm asleep," Ron said with a smirk. "Ha ha ha, very funny," Neal said. Everyone in the Own knew that Ron had faster reflexes than every man in the Own put together.

"Not really, just sadly true. I mean, for being a knight you're not very quick. Prone to assassination. But that, my little friend, is what I, the Great Ron, am here for," he said, standing tall and puffing his chest out. Neal laughed and play punched him in the arm. "Ha ha ha, yeah, pick on poor little Ron, no big," Ron said with a mock sadness in his voice. Neal smiled slightly but his mind was somewhere else.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked. "Huh? Oh, nothing," Neal said. Ron side glanced at him, "Uh-huh, sure. Come on man, how long have I known you, you can't pull one past me." Ron, though he was 5 years younger than Neal, had known him since he was 11. They had met when Neal was at the University and Ron had a small job as a runner since he had no mom or dad and was raising his kid sister. Ron grew up on the street, so he knew the quickest way to get somewhere. They had met when Ron was assigned to take every letter Neal wrote to his teacher. "Are you going to tell me yet, or do you want me to guess about it? It can't be that bad. Come on, man, please? You know you can trust me," he said with a grin. Neal snorted then sighed, "Ron if I truly knew what was wrong, I'd tell you but I don't." "Yeah, sure," Ron, seeing that he wouldn't get anything out of him, said. "But if you need me, you know where I'll be," he said, charging down the hall. _Yeah, I just don't know if you can help, _Neal thought with a sigh.

It was night by the time Daine returned. She was just thinking about how she needed to talk to someone when she ran into another person. _Not again_, she thought. She opened her eyes to see that she did not knock Kel down, but her tall friend was still standing. She squatted down and said, "You okay? You look kind of frazzled. Everything alright?" "Umm yeah, I'm fine," Daine mumbled. "Great Mother Goddess, you're a horrible liar! You know, I can help. You need to beat something up? I'll take you to the practice courts. You know, beating things with sticdks can really make you feel better. Or, you can just tel me what's buggin you, and then we can figure out a way to make it better. Daine thought about it then shook her head. "Maybe tomorrow. Right now I'm tired." "Okay, but don't seem so down. It is very out of character." Daine waved goodbye, making sure she watched where she was going very carefully.

Well that's all for now. Hope you liked it, give us opinions. Te te a fend tat a for now.


	2. Chapter two The right one

Hello once again, we're back. For security proposes my co-writer and I will be going under code names, or more like the stereotypes we fall under (Damn popular kids). Punk Me, Gothco-writer.

Punk: Thank you anyone and everyone who decided to read this cracked out story(It gets better, at least I think it does). Please excuse any bad English, spelling (Me) or large words (Goth). A special thanks to um ( ) who was our first (and as of yet only) reviewer. As to your question about the bold writing we have decided to stop showing the different parts each of us wrote, Goth will answer your other complaint.

Goth: Hello all! I would be the other, crazy author of this interesting story, hope it isn't too painful to read. . And my sincerest apologies for making Numair a bad guy... It was hard (Myself being a diehard Daine/Numair fan and all) but necessary for the more original pairing of Daine/Neal. Okay, anyway, this was really fun to write, hope you all enjoy, and please leave reviews. But be gentle, tis our first fic. .

Disclaimer: It's on the first page, look their

The next morning sun shone brightly through the window of Daine's room. She went to roll over and say good morning to Numair when she hit the floor. Now she remembered what he did, where he was, and where she was. She had slept of the couch with a cat at her side and a squirrel on her pillow. She didn't sleep in the bed last night because she hadn't washed the sheets yet. She groaned and got up, apologizing to the animals as she did. She got dressed and headed toward the stables to care for Spots and Cloud. She walked down the halls and into the stables. Cloud freeted her and prepared himself for the morning cleaning. Daine sighed; brushing Cloud always made her feel better. She was in half stroke when she heard a crash as something fell down the stairs from the loft. "Ow," groaned the person who had been the cause of the sound. Daine ran over to the stairs. The chile who had yelled "Cat fight," the day before was sprawled on the floor. The child had green eyes but from far away they could be mistaken for blue of torquoise. The kid's hair was goldish-reddis, almost the same color as runs but slightly darker red. Daine tried not to laugh. "Are you alright?" she asked. The child quickly got up. "I didn't do anything." Dain raised her eyebrow. "A little bit of a guilty conscience, hm?" "No, it's not, it's just when ever anything bad happens I'm always blamed," the kid said while looking down. "Oh. Well, do you want to help me with the horses? Plenty of brushes around here, and I could use the help," she said as she tossed him a brush. "You take Spots; Cloud is very territorial." "Whatever you say." Daine smiled. _I think I am going to like this kid. _ She sjust sat talking to Cloud and idly brushing her. _I haven't seen the stork-man lately, _said Cloud, _where'd he go? _A tear slid down Daine's cheek. _He's not coming back, Cloud. __I never liked him, anyway, _Cloud replied, _he was just a stupid human. _"Hey, um, lady, are you alright?" Ran asked seeing another tear fall. "Oh, I'm fine. And, by the way, I'm Daine." The kid cocked his head to the side. "Daine the Wild Mage?" Ran asked curiously. "Oh, yeah, but don't bother with formalitles. Just Daine." The kid smiled bigly, "You got it." Daine just smiled and shook her head. "So what were you doing in the loft?" Ran's eyebrows rose in a questioning look then his face quickly changed to a smiling one. "I went up there to get the pitchfork so I could put some new hay in the stalls," he said smiling. He looked up at Daine whose expression showed that she was waiting for him to continue. He looked down, "Well, the pitchfork happened to be stuck in the floor board, don't ask how it got there, so I tried yanking it out. Unfortunately it was stuck pretty good, so when it finally cam out I flew backwards, down the ladder, and that's where you came in," he finished. He had one hand behind his head and a slight blush on his face showing his embarassment. Daine chuckled. "Sounds like something I would do! Incoordination must be contagious around here." He tried his best to look shocked. ":gasps: Surely not you, miss, never you!" She gave him a reproving look and they both started laughing while Cloud wondered how Daine had gotten so clumsy. Daine was the first to stop laughing. "So," she said, "how long have you been at the castly? I've never seen you before, except for yesterday." "er… A while. Anyways, where'd Master Numair get to? Was that his experiment, the huge fire coming from your tower last night?" She looked sad for a moment then grinned ruthlessly. "Heh… Master Numair left, and I'm making sure nobody messes with me again!" She blushed when she saw the horrified, questioning look on his face. "I have quite a temper, you see… Oh, have you seen Varice? I can't find her anywhere…" "Oh, yeah, you're the one who fought her yesterday. Great job by the way. Well, Varice is… uh… well… he he he." Ran gave a guilty look. She glared at him, trying to get the information out of him. "Where is she? Come now, this is important… Have you seen her " She gave him the look she gave the little ones back in Snowsdale. He sighed, "OK, well, you know how Varice is considered a lady," Daine nodded, "Well, she's basically turned all the Lady's against you and since there's Midwinter Festival coming, well, that's a lot of ladies," Ran said in a hurry. "What?" Daine yelled. "And that's not all, since your good friends with Keladry of Mindelan, she turned everyone agaisnt her, too," Ran added quickly. Daine stopped and thought for a minute. The court ladies wer gullable and would believe anything, so this wasn't much of a surprise. But this was her home… Kel's, too! And she didn't even do anything, either. "Is she still here?" Ran's face lit up mischeviously, "Yup." "Good, good…" This would be interesting. _First, I've gotta talk to Kel._ "Thanks Ran, I have to go now, but I'll see you around." She grinned and walked off with a purposeful air.

"Great green globs of greasy grimey, Oh man, Ran totally got that song stuck in my head," Ron said while he was walking down the halls to the practice courts. "Now… where is that… Oh, Hi Daine," Ron said as he saw Daine coming his way. He raised his hand in a freiendly gesture only to have Daine rush past him. "OK, bye then," he said, confused.

Again, fate being the twisted, malicous lady that she is, Daine found herself falling backwards after yet another collision with a rather solid, cloth encased object. "Mithros, Mynoss, and Shakith! I'm so sorry, my mind has escaped me…" She was interrupted by soft chuckling. "You know, I can't get very much done if I'm always lying on the floor… and with a lady, nonetheless. My reputation will be shot!" Neal dramatically proclaimed. Daine smiled despite herself. _Nooo, I have things to do! Damnit, this is getting ridiculous._ "I really must be going," she said, trying to make the thoughts resume their track in her head. "Let me help you up then," said Neal. "Thanks," said Daine as she blushed. Neal took her hand and pulled her up, a little too hard. She rammed into his chest. "Sorry," Neal said. Daine looked up into his eyes again. _Oh shit, not again,_ she thought. Neal leaned down and then- "Yo Neal, where the holy fucking shit are you?" Neal pulled back quickly. He turned around, "Over here, Ron." "Oh, dude, you are supposed to be my sparring partner, where have you been?" Ron said as he approached Daine and Neal. "Hey Daine. So, where've you been?" he asked with complete innocence. "Uh…" she tried desperately to make her mouth work again. _Shit, shit, shit! _"Around." _Yeah, that's witty, good going genius, _she thought. "Yeah, how can you have not seen her around, she's everywhere!" Neal said with a lopsided grin. "Woo woo," Ron said while waving his hand in front of Neal's face. He sighed, "This is completely hopeless." "Huh, what?" Neal said, finally snapping out of his trance. Daine laughed, _Leave it to Ron to make an embarassing moment into a funny one, _Daine thought while watching Ron and Neal play fight. She shook her head. They were really good friends, you could tell just by looking at them. _I have good friends, I should go see one of them, _she thought, her eyes not leaving his shrinking figure for a second as he walked away. _Whoa! Stop looking, bad bad! Oh yeah, I gotta go see Kel. Yeah, that's it. Gotta see Kel. _With that she ran down the hall and to Kel's room. She came to the door and gave three loud knocks. Kel came to the door and said, "Hi. I was expecting you. Come in." "Thanks. So, how's life going?" Daine said, obviously trying to make small talk. "Well, I somehow deserve more than the usual glares from the ladies…" Daine sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore, I really don't. I mean, what did I do? What did you do? Daine was wandering around Kel's room, pacing from the unrest. She stopped by the open window and greeted the flock of Sparrow then stopped in her tracks. That voice was familiar, she thought, and then she looked out the window, but just saw the other various birds. _Wow, I've really lost it if I'm hearing Neal's voice now, _she thought. "Er… Daine?" Kel asked gently. "Oh my, I'm so sorry Kel, you don't deserve this at all! Where did Varice go, I'll kill her…" Daine was shaking with rage, now. "Whoa there, calm down! I'm used to it, besides, I'm sure if any of the guys hear anything they'll put a stop to it, I've already talked to them." Kel smiled down at Daine. "Now, let's go down to the practice grounds… A good round of shooting might help calm you down."

When they got there, there were lots of pages, squires, and knights practicing. Kel spotted Owen and went to practice with him while Daine strung her bow and focused. Hitting the bullseye everytime she thought, _Wow, Kel was right, this really does help._ "You really are great at this, you know," Neal whispered, hardly a hair's breadth away from her ear. She gasped and dropped her arrow. _Oh yeah, _she thought, _that's smooth… here we go again! _She bent over to grab the arrow and came up inches away from his face. _Oh boy… Definitely not good. Huh, _she thought, _ I guess I never realized just how awesome green is, before. _"I'm sorry, I've veen out of it the past couple of days… I can't even seem to manage holding an anrrow," she choked out, her voice rather raspy. Just then, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to discover that Kel was back. Kel looked between the two and noted that Daine was definitely happier, though she was pretty sure that wasn't just from shooting. She grinned and said, "If I may borrow her just for a time, Meathead, pressing matters at hand beg for discussion." And with that, she lead away a rather unwilling Daine. Neal shook his head and refocused his eyes on Kel and Daine. _Gods, _he thought, _Numair must be the luckiest man alive. _(A/N: Or so he thinks… LoL)

Meanwhile, In Carthak:

_I think that I'll stay here, nice climate, beautiful ladies, and good food. The king always said that I needed to take a vacation, _Numair thought while sipping a drink with one of those umbrella thingys. _Yep, Life is good. _ (For now)

Back in Tortall:

"Okay, so I was talking to Owen and he said that the Midwinter Festival starts in two days, as you may remember, and… well… Varice made it a bit difficult." Daine looked grave and said, "Go on." (Uh where are we going with this, SOS) Right then, Dom and Ron walked by Daine and Kel. Dom had just gotten back for the festival and was obviously greeted by Ron who he became friends with between Neal. "Hey, Daine," Ron started, "have you seen Meathead?" Dom finished. "Yeah, he's back there," Daine said while pointing her thumb behind her. "Thanks," Ron said with his innocent smile. "Who was that?" Kel asked referring to Ron. "Oh, I guess you're never met him before." Kel shook her head. "Weird. He's in the Own. I thought you would've at least seen him around being friends with Raoul and all," Daine said. "Hmm, which group?" Kel asked. "Thirteenth." Kel stopped. "There's really a thirteenth group? I thought it was a rumor." "Oh no, it's real alright, the reason nobody really knows about it is because that group usually goes undercover kind of like spies. It's made up of convicts, thieves, assassins, you name it who have agreed to serve the crown," Daine said as she tried to keep in her laughter as she saw Kel's shocked face. "So what were we talking about before we were so rudely interrupted?" Daine asked. "Oh yeah, well, apparently since Varice and her sidekicks ran word of us being so disgusting, we won't even find company for the ball. Well, they say that about me… they say you won't find good company because of your being disrespectful or something," Kel said. (A/N: Isn't that what you said yesterday:shrugs:) (Yup) "Oh," Daine said while deep in thought. _Hmm… first we have to probe her wrong, and then we have to get her back, _thought Daine. She grinned evilly. "Uh Daine? Are you OK?" Kel asked nervously seeing the evil glint in Daine's eyes. "Quite fine, actually," she said. "So, you want to prove her wrong as much as I do?" she asked. Kel grinned, "Oh yeah, but how?" "Well, first of all," Daine started as they walked through the stables, "we have to probe her wrong." "Oh, OK. So that means we, in lame terms, have to get dates." "Yup." "OK and you have to go with someone respectable like… Neal!" Daine stopped. "What?" Kel gave her a smug look. "And I'll go with a friend." "Which one? They all already have people to go with, well, except for Dom." Kel glared. "Fine." "One problem," Daine squeaked in surprise. There was Ran hanging upside down from his knew which were on a support beam. "Well, what's that problem," Daine asked after getting over her surprise. "Simple," Ran said while doing a flip off the beam and landing on the ground, "Dom's engaged." (Mwa ha ha ha ha).

Later, 10 o'clock that night, Kel knocked thrice on the door. Neal answered and said with a grin, "Can't you come calling at a more decent hour? Some of us do enjoy sleep." "Well, if you don't want to listen I'll just leave," Kel said sarcastically while going towards the door. "OK, OK, jeesh," Neal said while pushing her back in the room. "So, what's up?" "We need your help…" she said. "With … come on, spit it out!" Neal said. "OK, uh… well, wouldyougowithDainetotheball?" Kel asked. Neal looked confused. "Say that again, but slower." "OK, would you go with Daine to the ball?" Kel asked. He looked at her suspiciously. "And why would I be taking her to the ball? There must be plenty of people who don't need to have you recruit them… and what about Numair?" Kel took a deep breath and explained everything to Neal about Numair and Varice to how Varice was trying to ruin their reputations and finally to why they needed his help. "Wow," he said. Then he got angry. "Wait a second here, you mean to tell me that Numair somehow was not happy with Daine? We're talking about the Wild Mage, here! And he liked that nasty wench Varice instead? The man must be nutters!" he said exasperatedly. Kel hid a laugh. "I know," she said, "Completely." "Of course I'll help, why wouldn't I? And who are you going with since the fact is Dom is pre- oops!" Neal looked a little sheepish. "I know Dom's proposing to some court lady and everyone else has a partner, a little birdy told Daine and me." Seeing Neal's face, she quickly added, "I didn't mean a real bird." "So," he said, "Who are you going with?" "No clue," she said as she sighed. "So who was this little birdy?" "Oh, Ran… he really is quite a useful source of information, you know," Kel said. "The stable boy?" Neal asked. "Yeah, he's pretty cool, according to Daine." Haven't really ever talked to him." "So you'll help us then? You don't mind taking Daine? I know how much she bugs you…" Kel said. Neal punched her in the arm then said, "Yeah, right… bugs me." Kel's stomach grumbled. Let's go get some food, I'm hungry!" "Sure," Neal said while opening the door. He bowed, "After you." They walked down the hall when all of a sudden, _SPLASH._ Water had fallen all over them. Neal and Kel looked down and saw a small string that they had walked into. They turned around hearing laughter, there were Ron and Ran laughing their heads off. "I can't believe you walked into that," Ran choked. Ron was trying to hold in his laughter. "Squirt has a point," Ron said calmly. "Very nice," Kel said equally as calm. "That's it, you got me at the practice courts too!" he yelled, remembering how Ron had cut the sides of his breeches "on accident." Neal ran after him and Ran started laughing even harder, clutching his sides as he doubled over. Neal, even though he was one of the fastest knights in the realm in running, Ron didn't qualify for that title so he wasn't considered fast. Big mistake by those who judged him easily. Neal lunged at him and Ron easily dodged. _Damn it, he's fast, _Neal thought. He was right. They'd been at this for 15 minutes, Neal running fast as he could and panting while Ron looked like he was walking slightly fast and wasn't even winded. _Must be from being a runner, _he thought. _Never mind then, embarrassing myself even MORE wouldn't do very much good, so instead, heh heh heh, I will get him back in a more planned out way. _ He stopped running and found his way back to Kel and said, "Come on, let's get some food." "Yeah," said Kel, "We have lots of work to do."

-

Ok. That must have been confusing for those of you who had read it before I did this. See me and my friend already wrote this so making chapters out of the original piece sucks. I accidentally posted the third chapter instead of the second, my apologizes. Please review and have a nice day (Jeesh I sound like a Wal-Mart employee.)


	3. Chapter three

Punk: Yes we are back, and finally getting things right. WoooHooooo! Just so all of you know setting up a story is a lot harder than it looks. At least for me, the unusually low IQ student. I am loading the story if you couldn't tell by all the mistakes or my pen name. We are trying to work on getting distinguishable paragraphs, but so far not so good.

NOTE! Criticism is fine as long as it is help full. Not for example: I'm sorry I ever read this or That wasn't exactly great. I am sure that both of these opinions have much motivation behind it, but I a sorry to report that really we don't give a shit. Don't like it don't read it, simple. :cough: LionessLoves Amethyst:cough: Man I think I am coming down with something.

Goth: YAY, reviews! Love to all you reviewers(yes we know it's out of character)

The next morning, Daine woke up and stretched, ready to start her revenge. Then she remembered she had a problem: who was going to go with Kel? She rolled out of her sleeping mat and made a mental note to ask someone if she could trade beds with them. Walking down the hall, she turned around because she thought she heard something and, AGAIN, ran into Neal. She sat up on the floor and rubbed her head.

"Sorry… Again," Neal said while bending down. "So, do you want to go to the

Midwinter Festival with me?" "Daine tried not to look into his eyes. "Yeah, that would be great." "Good," he said while helping her up. "By the way, who have you thought of that can go with Kel that she can not only tolerate but can have a good time with?"

"Well, I've been thinking but I only know Riders, mostly, and they're either not here or paired off. Don't you know anyone?" she said. "Not really…" he smiled evilly. "I know someone that would be perfect, he hates balls, getting dressed up, and all of the snotty nobles just like Kel." _And this will be complete revenge since he hates all of these things._ "Who?" Daine asked. "Ron of course! It's perfect… heh heh heh…" Daine giggled, "I thought you were his friend, so why so sadistic?" "Revenge is sweet," Neal said. "Oh, you're still mad about the prank," Daine said. "Wha, how did you-" "Ran told me." "Oh."

"Well, I was just on my way to go see Kel, we have lots to do," said Daine. "May I accompany you?" he asked gallantly. "I really want to see her face when you tell her about Ron." "Of course," Daine said as she straightened her back and took his extended arm. They walked down the hall together and knocked on Kel's door. She opened it to see them both talking and laughing, still arm in arm, and hid a smile.

"How may I help you?" Kel asked. "Well, more like how can we help you," said Neal with a grin. "Yup," said Daine, "we've found you a date!" Kel raised an eyebrow. "Who?" They both grinned, exchanged looks, and said in unison, "Ron." "Wha-wha?" Kel asked aghast. "You take it from here, Neal," Daine whispered in his ear. "Well, you see, everyone else had a date, and well… desperate times call for desperate measures, heh heh," he finished lamely. Daine smacked her head, "Great job taking it." Kel laughed. "Riiight. Well, I suppose it's true, we have to go, and I need a date to show Varice…" she said. "I'm not sure if I'll like him, though," she stated doubtfully. "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you hardly know him…" Daine said. "That can be taken care of, though. I've been known to work wonders," said Neal grinning. _Oh no, _thought Kel, _I'm in deep shit now!_ "Oooh, I got an idea!" he said. "Okay, I'll go talk to Ron, you stay with Kel," he said, looking down at Daine. "Or we can just go talk to him all together?" Daine suggested. "Fine," Neal said and they were off looking for where Ron might be.

A knife came out of nowhere heading straight for his head. Ron quickly grabbed the knife and kicked his opponent in the stomach. _And to think this started out as a training session for the squires,_ Ron thought as he head his head.

Flashback:

"No Alan, look, when someone comes at your side you use," "Your knife to block it." Ron looked up to see who had finished his sentence. There right in front of him was one of the most famous King of Thieves, George Cooper.

End of Flashback

So now he was having a spar with the former King of Thieves. _How did Alan talk me into this, _Ron thought as he leapt out of the way. Then Ron saw it, an opening, and instinctively, he took it. Ron's knife slipped up to his throat while he blocked George's other knife by hitting the side of it with his hand. _I won. Thank God that's over, _Ron thought. Then he heard some loud clapping; he turned his head to see Neal clapping, Daine and Kel standing next to him. Ron put a hand behind his head and blushed (a very Ran like gesture though Ron used it more).

"Wow, Ron, even taking on the likes of George Cooper is the stuff of nightmares for most people," Neal said coming up to him. "Impressive. Oooh, and I hate to bother you after such a fight, but I need a favor," he said, adding to it his sweetest smile. Ron raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What kind of favor?" "Oh… well… you'll see," he said. "Come here. I need to introduce you to Keladry of Mindelan. Kel this is Ron, Ron this is my dear friend Kel. Go on, shake hands now," he said as they silently greeted each other.

Ron turned to Neal, waiting for him to talk. "Well…" Neal was stalling. "That favor you spoke of?" said Ron. "Oh yeah! Er… Daine, a little help here?" he pleaded. "What Neal is trying to say," "And failing horribly at doing," added Kel. Ron smirked. "Is, well, you'd better sit down, this could take a while," Daine said and so she explained everything.

Ron looked to Kel, seemingly sizing her up, and Neal and Daine crossed their fingers. Kel flushed, "What are you looking at?" "Well, I thought it was kind of obvious, you of course," Ron said flatly. Kel would have laughed if the situation were different. "And," Daine said going to stand near Kel, "do you like what you see?" Neal snickered as Kel tried her hardest not to look horrified at the suggestion. "Are you sure you want me to tell you?" Ron asked jokingly. Kel glared at him. "Seriously though, even though you cover it up with your large clothes you have a great body," Ron said calmly.

Self discipline necessary for court life was strained to its thinnest as Daine and Neal tried their hardest not to let on that they found this extremely entertaining. "Alrighty then," Neal said. "You've got Lalassa to get you all gussied up… Am I forgetting something?" "What about the plan to get Varice?" Kel asked, her face still red. "Oh yeah," said Daine, "about that… she made it personal, so I think Kel and I will, too. Gentlemen, excuse us." And with that, she dragged Kel off by the arm. "So, what do you think about Ron?" Daine asked Kel. "He seemed nice enough," she said, turning even redder. Daine hid a grin. _This might go even better than I expected, for all of us._

"Well, good so now what are we going to do about Varice?" Daine asked. "Well," Kel started, "I dunno, you're the one with all the fury." "Okay, so first we walk in right past her with our dates… nothing dirty, but clearly having fun. There's a really small margin of error, so make sure you are both happy, but just don't do anything gossip worthy. Okay, then we'll get our lovely Neal to amplify her voice and hire one of the court ladies to ask her why she was after Numair again… I'd like some answers myself! And we'll make her get some other nice secrets out of her while we're at it. Then, she'll get embarrassed, run out of the hall, and Ran will step on her dress! Neal will come in again here making the threads weaker and it'll rip right off!" Daine said. "I bet you haven't thought about this very much at all," said Kel. Daine smiled up at her, "Not at all. Now we have to go find Lalassa!" Daine said happily.

"So, were you telling the truth about you liking Kel's body?" Neal asked Ron while he was destroying a dummy with various kicks and punches. "Well, you know I haven't ever really been able to think about girls with the Own and all, but as far as girls go, Kel is probably at the top of my list, she's really pretty, she doesn't show it, plus she uses her brain." "So the fact that she's kind of masculine and likes to fight doesn't make her any less attractive to you?" Ron kept on punching as he began to sweat. "No way, if anything it makes me even more attracted," Ron said truthfully. Neal smiled. Without even trying he had found the perfect person for Kel. _Perfect, _he thought.

Lalassa fitted them both, insisting that they both look their best for such an event. They met up with Ron and Neal for dinner as the sun began to set. Neal and Ron were waiting for them when they got there. Neal was freshly clean and Ron the complete opposite, "Do you ever take a bath?" Kel asked looking at Ron. "Yeah, it's just I don't stay clean for very long," he replied. Kel smacked him on the back of the head and dirt flew up. "I prove my point," Kel stated as she looked at his hair that looked brown and his face wasn't much better for you could barely distinguish his features. Run stuck his tongue out at Kel and she just smirked.

"We did well, my friend," Neal said coming up behind Daine. "As well as we could have hoped for," she said looking up at him and smiling. He sat down next to Daine. ""So Ron, what did you do today when we weren't around you?" Neal asked his friend. "Well, I trained the pages and squires," he said naming the things off. "What did you girls get at Lalassa's?" Ron asked curiously. "Some dresses, things like that," Daine said. Neal smiled mischievously. "Good dresses I trust?" Then he went for innocence. "Kel mentioned that your dress was very nice." "Yeah," she said, "Lalassa's wonderful."

Neal's stomach grumbled and Daine giggled. "Hungry?" she asked. Right then the food came. "Great, Neal said and began eating. After they were finished they decided to go out to the practice courts and watch the new groups of Shangs demonstrations. (I like the practice courts if you can't tell)

"Where did they come from?" Daine asked lightly as she watched them do warm up drills. "From Carthak," a disgustingly smug voice answered. She spun around ready to fight again but saw a group of young squires and knights around her. Daine looked at her feet, frustrated that this came back when she was almost happy again, and left the practice courts. Neal went after her.

"Come on, you're going to have to face her or she might become suspicious," Neal said calmly. Daine sighed so she listened and came back to watch. "Oh my gosh, Keladry of Mindelan, is there really a girl in there or is that just a rumor?" Varice spat. Kel stood up and was about to go over to Varice when Ron grabbed her arm and shook his head. Kel got the message. Kel looked around to see everyone was staring at them, even the Shangs. "Is there a problem?" one asked as he cam over and stood next to Varice.

Kel looked at him: he was obviously extremely handsome with his brown hair but his blue eyes were like ice. He was the Shang Siren one of the best and that was good especially for his age. "No, nothing's wrong," Ron said evenly, his mischievous eyes crinkled up in a fake smile. "No, you're just too coward to talk to me because of my boyfriend," Varice said hotly. Kel smirked, "Yeah, and pigs fly," she said under her breath. Ron laughed. "What's so funny, Street Rat?" Shang Siren said to Ron while giving him a death glare. Before Ron could stop himself he blurted out, "Your face, what else?"

"You know Varice, as a noble I don't see why you can't have even the tiniest shred of honor and finish your fights with the one you started them with," Daine said coolly as she came in, Neal standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Fear flashed through Varice's eyes as she saw Daine again. "I finish my fights," she said icily, reaching for the Shang's hand. "Saying things behind my back and making my friends miserable is not finishing a fight," she said getting tense. "Whatever you say, wench. Come on, Siren, time to leave," and with that the congregation broke up. Kel and Ron glanced over at the fuming Daine Neal signaled them that he could handle it, so they left.

"Hey Daine, you OK?" Daine sighed. "Yeah, I guess." "That's good," Neal said as he sat down next to her. He put her in his arms, "I'm sorry about this whole thing." Daine rested her head in the crook of his neck, "It's not your fault," she said. She lay her ear on his chest and listened to his breathing and the rhythmic beating of his hear. "Thank you," she said quietly. "For what? I didn't do anything," Neal replied. "For being here," she said as she nestled up closer to him. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and breathed in. _She doesn't deserve this… Numair must be the stupidest man alive._ She reached around and hugged him, trying to pull him closer, and sighed. Neal chanced a look down at her face and saw a smile pulling on the ends of her lips and couldn't help but smile himself. She tilted her face up and opened her eyes.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you its rude to stare?" she whispered. "No, is it a bad thing?" "Absolutely," she said sarcastically, "and this is even worse since I didn't get to stare back." Neal grinned as her reached to gently push back the rogue curls that always seemed to break their bonds. He stopped, though, thinking something wasn't right with this situation… Daine was depressed, this couldn't be… but his thoughts were cut short as she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers.

Neal just went with the flow while his mind was in an uproar. He shouldn't do this… but he didn't! He was completely innocent this time, and she was the bad one! _Like I mind, _he thought,_ I mean, come on, it's Daine here. _In spite of his problem, his every nerve felt as if it were on fired as she refused to let go (Again, like he minded) and hugged him closer with the other arm. She slowly pulled away, panting heavily and obviously hating herself for what she was about to say.

"I really think I have to go," she said. _ Oh, God's curse respectability! _"At least let me take you back to your room," he said his voice rather gravelly. _Oh boy, I dunno, will I be able to leave the door?_ "Okay," she said glancing around, "but we have to be quick." She took his hand and led him down the halls, reminding herself that she would have to let go. She purposely took the longer, hardly used corridor as they slowed to a walk and entwined fingers.

_Okay, next attempt at forming words, _she thought. "Thank you again, for everything today… it helped a lot." "It was noth-" "It was everything," she interrupted. They reached her door and she had to bite her lips shut to not do anything stupid like – "Would you like to come in?" _No no no no no! What are you thinking you dolt, I mean why would you say that? _She looked at him for an answer… _Oh yeah, that's why._ She couldn't believe how great he was. He hardly knew her and he was just there for her in an instant! He looked around again then snuck inside.

They shut the door and he said, "I just wanted to give you a proper goodnight." Again, he wrapped his arms around her waist, as did she around his neck. He pulled back, hair tousled, lips swollen and bright red, his eyes darker yet had a new light to them. "Y-y- :ahem: You know where to find me… Oh, breakfast tomorrow." One last entrancing kiss and a bone-crushing hug later, "Sweet dreams," with a lopsided grin was all Neal could seem to manage, and the door was shut. Daine groaned and fell onto the couch thinking _I can't believe I shut the door!_ Neal walked down the hall and groaned thinking _I can't believe I went in there…Oy, why can't people just mind their own business? _"Damn honorability!"

Yay, we finally got it in the right order. Please bare with us through or retarded disabilities . Please review, reminder with either praise (it helps build our confidence, which is very low to begin with) or helpful critisisim like with the paragraphs (we've been working on that)


	4. Chapter 4

Punk: Hi there! Woot yeah for us we finally loaded another chapter! Ok I do have a good reason for not uploading, you see my crazy partner who is helping write this story has decided that she loves Numair too much to continue with this story, Horrible I know. I have tried every thing to change her mind and she wont listen so unfortunately after I have loaded all of the chapters that we have finished, Which in the long run is quite a lot, I will have to end it open ended. Sigh, soooo sad. Oh well, hope you enjoy!

The next morning Daine walked into the dining hall. Just before she entered, something ran into her. "Oh, sorry Daine, wasn't looking where I was going," Neal said as he helped her up. "It's OK," Daine said, "I'm kind of used to it by now." Neal laughed. "Well, let's go eat," Neal said.

He opened the door and was surprised at the site in front of him. It was a huge food fight and in the corner were Ron and Kel laughing, chucking food and dodging it.

At the dais were King Jon and Queen Thayet hiding and occasionally a biscuit would fly out from their refuge. Roald looked as if he was trying not to take part in such immature games, but as the front of his tunic got barraged by eggs he dropped all pretense of honor and threw a piece of sausage across the room. The more reserved of the nobles had already fled the scene, but the younger palace dwellers were in the middle of all the action.

Eventually, the excitement calmed down. Daine and Neal went over to Ron and Kel. "So, how did this start anyway?" Neal asked. Kel and Ron looked at each other and burst out laughing. "In other words, they started it," Ran said with his hands back behind his head.

Neal shook his head, then looked at Kel. "I'm so proud!" he said. Kel grinned, "I know, I had a couple of good teachers," she said looking from Ron to Neal. "Stop it, you're making us blush," Ron said jokingly. Kel rolled her eyes and slugged Ron playfully.

_Oooh, very nice,_ Daine thought, _Varice will be speechless… Varice… _Daine looked across the hall and saw that Varice had been drenched in jelly, the Siren busy licking it off. "Disgusting," she said, "and what a waste, too."_ I wonder if Numair thinks they're still together, _she thought. _You know what they say, if they'll cheat with you, they'll cheat on you._ She smirked at that comment.

"Hey Daine, there's another Shang demonstration and rumor has it that you can test your skill on the Shangs. There's also to be a tournament for whoever wants to join. Want to go?" Kel asked. "Sure," Daine said, "Neal?" "Yeah, I'll come." They then started out for the training ground.

"Damn, its crowded," Ron said as he looked for a place to sit. Spotting a seat rows away from the arena, they found another near it with two spots. Kel and Ron went to the two seats, then asked, "Where are you two gonna sit, that's practically the only seat left!" Kel looked around while Ron talked to them, but to no avail, that was the last place.

"Oh, I'm sure Daine can sit in Neal's lap. He won't mind," Ron said evilly. Daine looked up at Neal to see that he was blushing slightly and grinned inwardly, then tried to look innocent. "I can just stand if you want," she suggested. "Oh no, it's OK Daine," Neal said quickly, "It's just kind of hot out here, that's all."

Kel hid a smile again and exchanged knowing glances with Ron. "Are you sure? If it's too much trouble I can stand, it's not a problem at all," she finished. "No no, I'm sure," Neal said hastily. "All right, alright… after you," she said motioning to the seat. The previous night replayed in her head as he pulled her onto his lap again. She smiled at the memory.

The demonstrations were actually interesting. The free fights came and went and then it was the tournament. The rules were you could give up, be out of the ring for more than 10 seconds, or being down for 10 seconds. If it was a weapon round it was the first to draw blood.

"Alright, how is everybody today?" and announcer said as he came out onto the ring. "We have all of our contestants except for 3. Now the people in these three groups that I'll name agree on who should represent you in the tournament. Servants, Knights, and the Own. Decide now." Five minutes later three people came up onto the stage to announce their choices.

"Well, alright, lets do servants first and representing the servants, Lalassa. Lalassa, who have you chosen?" "We have chosen Ran, the stable boy," she said clearly. "Alright Ran, come on up," said the announcer. As Ran walked up hands on the back of his head, people started laughing. "You are being represented by a shrimp," someone from the crowd shouted.

"Well, then, next the knights." Lord Wyldon stood up and said with much disbelief in his voice, "Nealan of Queenscove." Neal was shocked, but then he closed his mouth and walked on up.

"Last we have the Own." Raoul with a big smile on his face said, "Ronald Kyprioth." "It's Ron!" Ron yelled back at Raoul as he walked up. _This would definitely be interesting,_ he thought.

"Well, OK, now for the first round it'll be Neal vs. Dom and now they choose their weapons." Neal picked up a sword. _I can't believe I'm doing this, _he thought. He walked into the center of the ring. "I'm not going easy on you," Dom said deadly. Neal gulped, "Nice to see you too," he said. "OK, ready, go," the announcer, Bob, yelled.

Dom rushed at Neal with a heavy glaive in hand. Neal stared in shock. _When did he learn how to use a glaive? _Neal thought as he listed all the possible ideas and only 15 seconds before Dom was going to run him through did he realize that he had to move. And he did, and guess what, Dom kept on going right off the ring. Falling on his head and knocking himself out.

"Neal is the winner," Bob said while holding up a dazed Neal's arm. _That was it?_ he thought. Daine and Kel cheered for their friend, amazed at his luck. "I thought he was in a but of trouble there for a moment," Daine said to Kel. "You and me both," Kel replied rolling her eyes and laughing.

"Next", the announcer Bob yelled," is Ran and Shang Dog." "Hahaha, you are gonna get your ass kicked," said the same rude fellow who had made the shrimp comment earlier. Ran stopped and turned around, smirked and flipped him off then continued on his way to the ring.

He continued," Why the hell would anyone ever pick fucking street rat scum like you to represent them. They must have been high or something, or maybe they got paid, you servants will do anything for some money. Not that I'm complaining I had a pretty good time with one of your low life frieds though of course it did cost. You got good service here, even have your own prostitutes."

Ron smirked shaking his head, " He should have kept quiet." Seconds later a gasp was heard from the crowd around the man, A knife was lodged into the seat millimeters (I mean millimeters) away from his crotch.

The man's face was pale and he looked as if he were about to faint. Ran dusted off his hands, smirked and continued on his was to the ring, turning around one to stick his tongue out at the man he left shaking in his seat.(wooohooo that was fun don't ya think?)

Ran finally reached the ring. The Shang smirked, "He is right you know and not only about getting your ass kicked." Ran smirked back, "See what happed to him? He was drunk, you have no excuse for your words," he shrugged, " So you'll have the same treatment, except this time I won't miss." His smile grew, "Good thing I have good aim since it's so small a target."

"READY START", Bob shouted. The Shang seemed unshaken by the comment, but stood as if waiting for a far more painful attack. They circled each other warily, Ran moving with equal fluidity to match that of the trained and conditioned Shang. The audience whispered amongst themselves, anticipating the first strike.

The Shang lunged pretty damn fast too but to the Shang and audiences surprised missed Ran by a mile, he looked side to side trying to find him he couldn't even feel his presence anymore. "HEY BITCH, LOOK UP DUMN ASS!" Ran yelled gleefully and the Shang did, well almost did because by the time he started Ran had already scissor kicked him square in the face.

"Damn" Neal thought, " that kid can defiantly get some air." Ran landed and put one foot on the unconscious mass while making the peace sign with his fingers. "And Ran is the winner" Bob said unbelievingly, his shock was also shared through out the stadium. Well of course that is except for four people (the four that we know and love so much).

The other matches went on with out much problems except for when Ron accidentally hit his opponent to hard and gave him a few broken ribs (there was a lot of swearing involved) and at the end of the first round only Neal, Ran, Ron, the Shang Siren were left. Ron, Ran, and Neal went back up into the stands to talk to Kel and Daine during the break.

"Wow, that was great, guys!" Daine congratulated them as they came back to the seats. Ran and Ron replied in unison, "Of course it was!" Kel also offered accolades, though reluctantly at first. "Yeah, meathead, although you looked pretty scared, I must admit that… well… you survived, and _somehow_ managed to win. I'm actually impressed," she said, patting him on the head like a dog. He ducked out from under her head but accepted her congratulations.

"And Ran, you were amazing. I had no idea you could do that. And way to go with the guy in the crowds… Caught everybody's attention, that's for sure! I think they were scared you'd take it out of the ring, again!" Daine said laughing. Ran blushed and grinned, then said, "Aww, it was nothing more than I'd usually do. The way he was shaking though… yeah, that really made it worth the effort." Ron smacked him lightly on the back of the head, waiting for Kel to say something to him.

"Any praise for me? I'll take a criticism as well," Ron said with a questioning look on his devilishly handsome face. Kel blushed slightly, which was saying something (yamani mask, remember) and looked down. (A/N: Devilishly handsome? LoL) Daine grinned inwardly and Neal giggled, both of them enjoying watching their friend squirm.

After she regained her composure, Kel said coolly, "You were good too." "That's all I get? Come on, even squirt got better than that, I need something here!" Ron said indignantly. "Well, do you expect me to be gushing when you crippled your opponent?" she replied calmly. "Hmm… let's see here… yeah!" "Well, I'm not. That was… cruel and unusual. It was just a Shang… Harmless sparring was what this was supposed to be. He isn't an enemy, you know," she said hotly.

"Come now, children, no reason to fight," said Neal, feeling very odd in the position of elder that Kel usually assumed. They each sent an icy glare his was, and he was silenced as Daine began to giggle helplessly. "They say the more you fight, the more you get along," she said to Neal who still looked hurt.

"Woooooo rewind, stop, play you think I did that on purpose, cause I really didn't mean to. I didn't realize that he wouldn't be able to block it and just incase you failed to notice I WAS, "harmlessly sparring" I wasn't trying at all! I'm sorry you took me so seriously when I asked for some more praise, but it was a joke if I might put a word in for my defense."

"Fine, fine, you were good, all right? Is that enough for you or must I bow down and build an idol to appease your ego? Hmm? What must I do to make the great Ron happy, eh?" Kel said trying to ignore Daine, Neal, and Ran who were all snickering off to the side.

Ron smiled and walked up closer to Kel with a predatory smirk. She slightly stepped back not liking the feelings that were going through her body. See that Ron leaned down and put his face inches from hers, " Do I make uncomfortable?" he asked with mock innocence. "You wish," she said, her voice not quite as confident as she hoped for.

They were still for what seemed like an eternity before anyone made a sound. "Eeew, come on, get a room you two!" said Ran who seemingly materialized in between them. "That's just wrong…" Ran said, shuddering. Kel blushed again and Ron cleared his throat. Daine and Neal exchanged knowing glances then, remembering what happened the night before they blushed as well. Ran looked around their group. "Well, aren't you all awkward today?" he said, looking at them each suspiciously.

"Anyways Ron are you ready to go against me, cause I don't want you going easy on me. You did know that we're opponents in the semifinals right?" Ran looked at Ron who's head seemed to be somewhere else, "Obviously not "he stated out of breath.

"Wait" Neal said looking at Ran, "That means I'm against :gulp:" "Me" an arrogant voice said from behind the group. Everyone turned, "Well if it isn't the Shang Siren, said to be better than the Shang Dragon before him, the best in the world at this point, am I not correct?" Ron asked coldly "And why may I ask do you grace us with your presence?" He said while bowing mockingly.

"I see you have your little whore with you" he said nodding to Kel. "Well my, my if Kel's a whore think what you "fair" Varice is." Ran snickered and Ron continued "I don't think there are any words to describe how low she would be." "Matches you perfectly", Neal stated cheekily. "And you," the Siren said turning his attention to Neal, "don't expect such an easy victory this time. I can guarantee I will prove to be more difficult than your last opponent."

Varice came over to dote on her beaux and looked disdainfully on the group around her. "So all that is left in this pitiful competition is from our own little… well, from this group," she sneered. "That hardly leaves you any competition. We should have plenty of time to rest before the real festivities start up tomorrow," she said hanging all over him. Then she caught Daine's eye and glared at her.

Neal stepped closer to Daine and again lay his hands on her shoulders. She breathed deeply assumed a stance preparing for another verbal war. The tension grew between them, but Daine had finally adapted and air of offense that made the impending fight even more dangerous. The Shang, looking a little scared, decided to break it off. "Come Varice, let's go while we are still on break. I need to rest up just on the off chance that I must be in the ring more than a moment or two," he said snidely. "Sir Nealan, until then." They both left with the group of five behind them glaring daggers at their backs.

"Bye," Ran waved good naturedly, still with the fake smile on his face he asked sarcastically' "Well isn't he such a nice and civilized fellow, I mean especially with the way he hit bellow the belt with that Kel thing", Ran put his elbow on Ron's shoulder, which mind you was quite a long stretch, "I proud of you, ya came back wit' some pretty good stuff. You have done very well young padawon," Ran said to Ron while bowing Yamani style. Ron took a swing at his head good naturally, which Ran ducked under.

Kel looked almost as angry as Daine did, and both Ron and Neal looked a little scared. As they calmed down they started to discuss their plans some more with more motive than ever. "Is there anything we're forgetting? I mean, we have the outfits, we have the plan… we have the anger," Daine counted off. "All you need is the moment to crush her," Ran emphasized crush by slamming one of his fist on to the palm of his other hand.

"So I guess it's all set," Neal said trying to lighten the mood which at least got Daine back to the reality with no tied up Varices and extremely sharp implements for her use. Kel was still slightly mad and there was something nagging at the back of her mind that was really annoying.

A voice came right next to her ear snapping her out of her frustration " If you keep your face in that position it might stay that way_". ' Woa how did he get there he was talking with ran on the other side of the isle '_ Kel thought. "Well it would still probably look better than your dirty one." She replied to Ron. "Oooh, that hurts… really, Kel, you're breaking my heart hear," he said dramatically. "How do you expect to make it through the entire night tomorrow if you can't even look at my face?" Kel looked him straight in the eyes. "I think we'll find a way to manage," she replied with a smirk. "Yeah maybe if you wash it. ' Neal said under his breath earning a kick in the shins from Ron.

Ok here I will try to answer some questions, Uhhh well NQ stands for Nealan of Queenscove or however you spell it, And we, now I, am trying to work on the Paraghraphs so if you could tell me how they are it would rock.


End file.
